Tech

Quibi, to put it politely, got off to a shaky start, and for the worst of all possible reasons. Yes, it had the sheer bad luck to launch at the start of the pandemic — not exactly a moment when folks were clamoring to watch short films on their phones as they traveled to work.

Amazon’s Prime Video has jumped into the “Watch Party” pool — a streaming trend that has gained momentum during the coronavirus crisis. The ecommerce company’s Prime Video service has started to gradually roll out Watch Party, its version of a native social-viewing experience, the company said Monday. Available for users on desktop PCs, Prime Video’s

The New York Times ended its relationship with Apple News, saying the distribution deal doesn’t fit with the newspaper’s direct-to-consumer business model. As of Monday (June 29), articles from the Times no longer appeared in the Apple News app. “Core to a healthy model between The Times and the platforms is a direct path for

Reddit first launched as an online discussion site in June 2005. Now, 15 years later, it has finally taken action to officially ban hate speech and groups that promote it. A revised Reddit content policy, announced Monday, explicitly states that groups or users that “incite violence or that promote hate based on identity or vulnerability”

The Indian government has blocked TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps in the wake of ongoing border tensions with China. In recent weeks, India and China have been at loggerheads over border disputes over the Galwan Valley in the territory of Ladakh. An Indian government statement noted “raging concerns” with regards to data security and

Dave Portnoy, the pugnacious and pot-stirring founder of Barstool Sports, defiantly hit back at “cancel cops” who resurfaced clips of him using racist language including the N-word in past videos. The Barstool videos have been circulated by the Resist Programming account on Twitter in the past several days, gaining wider attention after The Atlantic contributing

Milton Glaser, the renowned graphic designer who created the iconic “I Heart NY” logo, died on June 26, which was his 91st birthday. According to The New York Times, his wife, Shirley Glaser, said a stroke was the cause of death, although he also suffered from renal failure. Glaser is well-known for his 1966 psychedelic

The Democratic Party of Orange County passed an emergency resolution this week calling on the Orange County Board of Supervisors to change the name of John Wayne Airport. Submitted by Ada Briceño, chair of the Democratic Party of Orange County, along with Chapman University professors Fred Smoller and Dr. Michael A. Moodian, the resolution “condemns

Shane Dawson has owned up to his past racist actions in a 20-minute video posted to his YouTube channel on Friday night. In the video, titled “Taking Accountability,” Dawson apologized for doing blackface in racist videos during his early YouTube career. “Blackface was something that I did a lot… on my channel. And there’s no

Blackpink’s newly released “How You Like That” music video blasted into the YouTube record books. The K-pop powerhouse group’s dynamic new single had 82.4 million views in the first 24 hours of release on YouTube, and was the No. 1 trending video on the platform. The view count handily topped the previous record-holders: BTS’ “Boy

Beloved 1987 film “The Princess Bride” is getting a DIY makeover from some of Hollywood’s biggest names. Though the project is helmed by “Juno” director Jason Reitman, who has previously staged live readings of the film’s script, the remake was shot entirely at-home by each cast member using their phones. Beginning June 29, Quibi will

Facebook is doing an about-face, following Twitter’s lead in dealing with controversial and inflammatory statements from high-profile figures — like Donald Trump. In addition, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the social-media company is banning a “wider category of hateful content in ads.” The moves represent an effort by Facebook to try to halt the spread

Prince’s entire song catalog is available to use in TikTok’s short-form videos, under a deal with the Prince Estate announced Friday. “Prince was known for breaking boundaries and TikTok has proven to do so as well,” Troy Carter, entertainment adviser for the Prince Estate, said in a statement. “With the addition of Prince’s full catalog

Unilever is ceasing all U.S. ad spending from social-media platforms Facebook, Instagram and Twitter through the end of the year — and possibly beyond — citing the “polarized atmosphere” in the country. The consumer goods giant’s announcement Friday comes amid the widening #StopHateForProfit boycott targeted at Facebook, organized by groups that want to pressure Facebook

Microsoft is exiting the bricks-and-mortar business. The tech company on Friday announced that it will shutter all of its Microsoft Store physical locations, which have been closed since late March because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company has operated 83 stores, mostly in the U.S. The closing of the Microsoft Store locations will result in

Justin Bieber is seeking to collect at least $20 million in damages in a defamation lawsuit filed against two Twitter users who alleged in posts on the social network that the singer sexually assaulted them — claims that Bieber vehemently denies and said says are “factually impossible” based on documents he has made public. The

Adult webcam platform Chaturbate has partnered with an independent filmmaking team to launch a scripted comedy series, “Cam_Girlfriend.” Made up of 10 episodes — each one 10 minutes long — “Cam_Girlfriend” follows rising cam model Chloe Cables (Lily LaBeau) as she balances her relationship with her boyfriend, Mike (Dave Keystone) with her relationship to her

Jenna Marbles, a popular YouTube comedy vlogger who’s been making videos for 10 years, apologized for content she created that offended and hurt people including racist videos. She said she is taking a hiatus from her YouTube channel, perhaps permanently. In an emotional video she posted Thursday, Marbles explained that she has made private “almost

Verizon is the biggest advertiser yet to join a boycott of Facebook, with the telco saying it is “pausing” ad spending with the social-media giant until Facebook can address brand-safety problems. Verizon’s decision came after the Anti-Defamation League — one of the groups behind the #StopHateForProfit campaign to pressure Facebook into adopting more aggressive steps

Kevin Mayer traded mouse ears for TikTok’s teen memes — and he’s very excited to be leading the rapidly exploding short-form video service, whose mission, he said, is to spread “joy and creativity.” Mayer last month announced his exit from Disney, where he had led the Direct-to-Consumer and International segment, to become CEO of TikTok.

After reaching an all-time high of $236 on Monday and $241.76 on Wednesday, Spotify’s stock closed even higher on Thursday — at $267.45  per share — boosted by an updated Goldman Sachs review that raised its price target from $205 to $280. The company singled out its recent podcast acquisitions and new advertising technology that

Amazon acquired naming rights to what had been called KeyArena in Seattle. But the ecommerce giant isn’t going to splash its own name or logo on it. Instead, the company will call the arena “Climate Pledge Arena,” the new home for the city’s future NHL franchise and the WNBA’s Seattle Storm. Currently undergoing a renovation,

Rooster Teeth, the division of WarnerMedia’s Otter Media dedicated to sci-fi, gaming, animation and fandom, has canceled its flagship RTX 2020 convention. Instead, it’s planning a virtual event for fans in its place. The decision came after the Austin Public Health department determined that the annual convention cannot be held at the Austin Convention Center.

Amid nationwide restaurant reopenings, family-friendly arcade and pizza place Chuck E. Cheese is filing for bankruptcy protection. Parent company CEC Entertainment Inc. filed for bankruptcy on Thursday after 43 years of business, it announced in a statement on Thursday. Though the chain had been struggling before COVID-19, prolonged closures as a result of the pandemic

Staffers from NextRadioTV, the French media group owned by Patrick Drahi’s Altice, went on a 24-hour strike on June 24 to protest the company’s plans to trim one-third of its workforce. NextRadioTV, which was founded by Alain Weill, comprises France’s most watched news channel BFM TV, the radio station RMC and the documentary-focused TV channel

Katie Couric and Bozoma Saint John have joined forces for a podcast series that is designed to be a forum where business and cultural leaders “feel comfortable talking about uncomfortable subjects,” as Saint John explained. Couric, the veteran journalist, and Saint John, chief marketing officer for Endeavor, have been friendly for the past few years.

YouTube has canceled “Escape the Night” after four seasons, ending its longest-running original series, Variety has confirmed. The semi-scripted murder-mystery series was hosted by Joey Graceffa, who presided over the retro mega-collab in which a famous YouTuber got killed off in each episode. But Graceffa isn’t letting “Escape the Night” fade to black. In a

Imagine if “Jurassic Park” or “Jaws” hadn’t unfolded on the big screen. If, instead of reveling in cinematic carnage, audiences might have experienced the bloodletting of these dinosaurs and giant sharks from the relative safety of their earbuds. At least, that’s the latest idea from Cadence13, a podcast company that counts Goop and Crooked Media

Google is prepping a “new news experience” to launch later in 2020 — for which the internet giant will finally directly compensate some publishers of “high-quality content” under a new licensing program. Google’s move follows actions by antitrust regulatory groups in Australia and France calling on Google to pay for news content, as well as

Amazon is looking to build out the technical teams that support the dozens of live TV channels available via its Prime Video service around the world. The ecommerce giant is seeking to hire more members for the engineering and product teams for Amazon Prime Video Channels, including a technical principal product manager, a senior software